Friday, October 10, 2008

Eating healthy part 2: Durian. The hate me or love me fruit



Is this a healthy food to try or a fruit to avoid?

Durian. The first time i tried this was when i was 11 years old, The smell is really bad, and i just don't like it.. But that was then,(when i was young i tend to hate odd looking fruits) Well, I like it now more than before. My sister often tells me that people has only two views for this fruit " Hate it or Love it" All i can say is that I'm in between. It is known in South and East Asian Countries as the "King of all fruits".

Tracy asked me last time about the fruit with porcupine type skin. Well, there were 3 fruits on my mind that day. But for now I'll post Durian first. The smell may repel you but it really tastes good. So, What are the health benefits that you could get from Durian?

Durian is packed with proteins, minerals, antioxidants and other phytonutrients.

I can still remember my granny used to tell me that you can't just pick this fruit from a tree and eat. You have to wait for this fruit to fall from the tree. And wait for few more days until it ripened before you can actually eat it. This fruit is known to be high in Tryptophan,

Tryptophan increases brain levels of serotonin and melatonin, both are known as sleep-inducing hormones. So it helps to relaxes your brain and get sleepy. This fruit maybe consider as a good sleeping aid. If your travelling to South East Asian Countries, you may want to give this fruit a try. Expect that the smell would be unpleasant but it's worth the try.

image courtesy of www.nurulrahman.com





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8 comments:

  1. Awesome! Thanks! I'm not certain this is it, though. The one I saw was much brighter green - but that could be due to the ripeness (or lack of). We're going back to that store this weekend, so I'll check to see if it's still there, and see if they've put up a sign telling what it is! :-)

    Smelling the fruit is part of the pleasure of eating it - if it smells bad, I'm not sure I'd like it either! How do you eat it? Is the yellow part the meat or the seed?

    I love all this information. Thanks!

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  2. Well, we went back to the market today, and I discovered the dragon fruit, and the durian - man that thing was huge - like a football, or larger! The store also had a bunch of them in the freezer section, too. Is that to keep them fresh?

    The fruit I mentioned in my comment on the last post was also there, and this time there was a name! It was a conasina. This time, they were more brown than green - but when I saw them the first time they were bright vivid green.

    Thanks for the great information. Our budget was extra tight this week, but we plan to try all of these in the future.

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  3. What an interesting fruit! I would like to try this as it sounds like it is very good for you and I love, love fruit (not as much as chocolate but I try).

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  4. Whatever I do.. I really can't eat durian =(

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  5. I wish I could eat a little of it... but i just can't. I really cant tolerate the smell.. and neither the taste.

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  6. I can't stand the smell of durian. So much so that I banned my own mom from bringing durian into the car when I'm driving.

    However, sometimes I am able to get over the smell & would eat 1 or two. But it's really amazing 2 see how people can get real crazy when it's durian season :)

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  7. I would like to try durain but it's not legal to import fresh durain to the US - only the frozen. I have friends that have been known to smuggle over the border from Canada - they love it so much. I've been told the frozen is nothing like the fresh.

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  8. Can't get over the smell, Not even brave enough to try it for now. But I had been told it's not only a health food but some sort of aphrodisiac as well.

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